1. Twitter For Beginners: Basic Guidelines for Users Presentation By: Joan Apio - Communication Publicity & Marketing Officer Date: 28 July, 2015 Improving RUFORUM Staff Engagement on the use of Twitter

2. What is Twitter? Twitter is a platform where users share their thoughts, news and all sorts of information in not more than 140 characters of text. The platform creates a low-cost way for everyone to communicate with and reach out to more people all over the world. Users 'follow' each other to stay updated or talk to specific people or groups. The posts, or 'tweets', are presented in real- time. In Brief: Social Instant Messaging

3. Who are followers? Followers are people who receive your Tweets. If someone follows you: – They'll show up in your followers list. – They'll see your Tweets in their home timeline whenever they log in to Twitter. – You can start a private conversation with them (Direct Messages).

4. What is a Hashtag? A hashtag is simply a phrase or keyword that is preceded by a pound (#) symbol and used to create a thread of conversations around a specific theme or topic.hashtag The purpose of the hashtag is to categorize topics, bring ideas together, inspire exchange and encourage others to join in.categorize topics Note: No Special Characters (!, $, %, ^, &, *, +,.), No Spaces

5. Hashtag Continued… Examples of Previous RUFORUM Hash tags: #RUFORUM@1 0 #TrainingForAf rica #RUFORUM202 0 #COA2020

6. What is a Tweet? Anatomy of a Tweet

7. What is a @reply, a @mention and a Favorite? A reply is a response to another user's Tweet that begins with the @username of the person you're replying to. A mention is a Tweet that contains another user's @username anywhere in the body of the Tweet. Favorites: Lets the original poster know that you liked their Tweet, or you can save the Tweet for later. Alerts will show up in your Notifications tab.

8. Dos and Don’ts on Twitter

9. Benefits of using Twitter Reputation and Branding: Twitter is indexed by Google and will rank high in search results. Your tweets and who you are. Opportunity to share: Twitter gives you the opportunity to share your work with others – your articles, blog posts, videos and presentations. Vast Source of Information: Learning about new research, publications, conferences, conversations. Networking and Relationship Building: A conversational platform like Twitter makes it easy for people to develop relationships that may remain online-only but can transform into real life friendships.

10. Sources of Information 1. Twitter For Beginners: Basic Guidelines Before You Start: https://www.hashtags.org/platforms/twitter/twitter-for-beginners-basic-guidelines- before-you-start/ https://www.hashtags.org/platforms/twitter/twitter-for-beginners-basic-guidelines- before-you-start/ 2. Twitter Best Practices: http://www.slideshare.net/heidimiller/twitter-basics-and- measurementhttp://www.slideshare.net/heidimiller/twitter-basics-and- measurement 3. Anatomy of a Tweet: http://simbaedwards.blogspot.com/2014/11/anatomy-of- tweet.htmlhttp://simbaedwards.blogspot.com/2014/11/anatomy-of- tweet.html 4. Twitter Help Center: https://support.twitter.com/articles/14023-what-are-replies- and-mentions#https://support.twitter.com/articles/14023-what-are-replies- and-mentions# 5. The Academic Benefits of Twitter: http://savageminds.org/2013/05/08/the- academic-benefits-of-twitter/http://savageminds.org/2013/05/08/the- academic-benefits-of-twitter/ 6. Twitter Basics: Part 1 – Benefits: http://deirdrereid.com/2010/08/10/twitter- basics-part-1-benefits/http://deirdrereid.com/2010/08/10/twitter- basics-part-1-benefits/ 7. Essential Dos and Don’ts for Twitter Users: http://practicepro.ca/LAWPROMag/TwitterDosDonts.pdf http://practicepro.ca/LAWPROMag/TwitterDosDonts.pdf

11. Demonstration: 5-10mins Navigation of the dashboard, Compose a Tweet, Reply, Reweet, Favourite

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